What happens when back stage becomes front stage? At her Bushwick Brooklyn studio, artist Mika Tajima discusses the processes and ideas behind her two installational-performative works Today is Not a Dress Rehearsal (2009) and The Pedestrians (2011). Tajima describes how her fascination with the “immaterial labor” of film production—the constant behind the camera activity that’s not visible in a final film—led her to create a fully crewed, film set in the lobby of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Collaborating with artist Charles Atlas and the New Humans collective, Tajima conceived of Today is Not a Dress Rehearsal (2009) as “production as performance.” A crew of cameramen, audio operators, production assistants, and Tajima herself were all on public view in the museum as they shot philosopher Judith Butler and the amateur public speaking group Golden Gate Toastmasters perform. For The Pedestrians (2011), Tajima and her collaborators created an even more ambitious project that featured a larger film crew and ten days of performances centered around the theme of walking. At the South London Gallery, a dollying cameraman circled the perimeter of the exhibition space, recording footage of the performers, crew, and viewers that was then live projected back into the space. For Tajima, these hybrid performance productions question conventional distinctions between talent and crew, artist and audience, and public and private space. Also featuring work from the exhibitions Deal or No Deal (2008), The Double (2008), and The Architect’s Garden (2011) and the ongoing series The Extras (2011).

In this film, artist Mika Tajima works with two amateur contortionists to create a series of dance-like movements that respond to her sculptural installation of re-purposed vintage office cubicles and ergonomic chairs.